The proposed UM stadium expansion

[messageboardsuperhero]

Okay, so here's UM with a shot at a 9-win season, playing a top 10 team on senior night, and there are empty seats ALL OVER the stadium. Why in the hell is a stadium expansion even in consideration for them?

I believe last year's Texas game was the first sellout they had in three years, and it took about 10k Longhorn fans to do that. They might have sold out two or three games this year. How can they rationalize having the demand for thousands of additional seats? At least we had a 25+ game sellout streak going, so there was a reason for us to expand.

[BossDawg]

Because we're expanding ours. It's that easy. They will not be trumped by lil' ol' MSU. They hate to admit that they care at all about State, but it's hands down their biggest motivation for the shenanigans they pull.

[FlabLoser]

VHS stadium expansion is a carrot to fund a new basketball arena. They don't give a shit about basketball. But the AD needed some smoke to get basketball fundraising rolling.

[EAVdog]

They can't. The Fed-Ex Center is in the way and they don't own it. They lease it, same as the IPF. Bancorp South I believe owns the IPF. Those bastards act like they have cash coming out their ears but they are leveraged to the hilt. The basketball arena is going to eat up a lot of the available funds.

[bully99]

It was cold, so that probably had something to do with it.

Looks like eggbowl will be even colder. Weatherbug says kickoff temp around freezing. What about it,. Ref

[engie]

They can't. The Fed-Ex Center is in the way and they don't own it. They lease it, same as the IPF. Bancorp South I believe owns the IPF. Those bastards act like they have cash coming out their ears but they are leveraged to the hilt. The basketball arena is going to eat up a lot of the available funds.

They just borrowed $80 mil for the project -- after telling us for years how they were going the responsible route and paying cash for theirs through PSLs(while calling our expansion irresponsible)...http://blog.gulflive.com/mississippi-press-sports/2013/10/college_board_approves_plan_fo.html

Vaught is expected to be "expanded" in front of the Fed-Ex Center... basically meaning it will be a limited-scale project...

[ShotgunDawg]

They just borrowed $80 mil for the project -- after telling us for years how they were going the responsible route and paying cash for theirs through PSLs(while calling our expansion irresponsible)...http://blog.gulflive.com/mississippi-press-sports/2013/10/college_board_approves_plan_fo.html

Vaught is expected to be "expanded" in front of the Fed-Ex Center... basically meaning it will be a limited-scale project...

It's so funny that they want to expand a stadium a they can't fill

[messageboardsuperhero]

It's so funny that they want to expand a stadium a they can't fill

It's funny because it's so typical them.

[engie]

I don't fault them for that. Just a different philosophy than us... They think "build it and they will come" and we think "show up for 2-3 years, then we will build it". We've failed to strike while the iron was hot SEVERAL times in the past. We'll see if the same holds true for this expansion...

[messageboardsuperhero]

They just borrowed $80 mil for the project -- after telling us for years how they were going the responsible route and paying cash for theirs through PSLs(while calling our expansion irresponsible)...http://blog.gulflive.com/mississippi-press-sports/2013/10/college_board_approves_plan_fo.html

Vaught is expected to be "expanded" in front of the Fed-Ex Center... basically meaning it will be a limited-scale project...

What I can't figure out is where in the hell all that money is that they raised from "Forward Together?" Supposedly UM has over $100 mil. of the $150 mil. already raised and in the bank, but only $20 mil. will go to the basketball arena and judging by the recent pictures, they pretty much cut the nuts off their football expansion.

So does all that other money that they claim to have "responsibly raised" just disappear? That whole thing just seems a little off...

[Todd4State]

And if I'm not mistaken their baseball field is owned by the city of Oxford. Ours is owned by MSU. Which is a good thing- less red tape.

I didn't realize that they had so many things leased out.

[Todd4State]

What I can't figure out is where in the hell all that money is that they raised from "Forward Together?" Supposedly UM has over $100 mil. of the $150 mil. already raised and in the bank, but only $20 mil. will go to the basketball arena and judging by the recent pictures, they pretty much cut the nuts off their football expansion.

So does all that other money that they claim to have "responsibly raised" just disappear? That whole thing just seems a little off...

'Crootin parties. And well, 'Crootin in general.

[Bothrops]

Regardless of what they do with their stadium, Davis-Wade will always be able to expand and accomodate more people than Vaught-Hemingway, because of design. After the current expansion is completed, we will have a much more impressive stadium by comparison.

[Bubb Rubb]

Regardless of what they do with their stadium, Davis-Wade will always be able to expand and accomodate more people than Vaught-Hemingway, because of design. After the current expansion is completed, we will have a much more impressive stadium by comparison.

Even before the expansion, we have a much more impressive stadium. Their stadium looks like a bad erector set project. I liken it to someone building a deck around a doublewide trailer. I guess they had to do that to make everyone feel at home.

It's an embarrassment to the conference.

[hells bells]

Okay, so here's UM with a shot at a 9-win season, playing a top 10 team on senior night, and there are empty seats ALL OVER the stadium. Why in the hell is a stadium expansion even in consideration for them?

I believe last year's Texas game was the first sellout they had in three years, and it took about 10k Longhorn fans to do that. They might have sold out two or three games this year. How can they rationalize having the demand for thousands of additional seats? At least we had a 25+ game sellout streak going, so there was a reason for us to expand.

Great point on empty seats. Funny that any network coverage rarely pans the stadium. Always a sell out but usually empty seats.

[Jack Lambert]

While watching the game last nigt I got a lot of shots of the stadium. I don't understand why they think thiers is so much better then DWS.

[messageboardsuperhero]

While watching the game last nigt I got a lot of shots of the stadium. I don't understand why they think thiers is so much better then DWS.

VHS is no better than DWS currently is. And DWS will be at least 10x better than VHS when we finish the expansion next year.

[PassInterference]

In other VHS news, I saw some twitter thing going around where they are giving away a year of Abner's tailgating or some such. But it was Abners for sure

[engie]

What I can't figure out is where in the hell all that money is that they raised from "Forward Together?" Supposedly UM has over $100 mil. of the $150 mil. already raised and in the bank, but only $20 mil. will go to the basketball arena and judging by the recent pictures, they pretty much cut the nuts off their football expansion.

So does all that other money that they claim to have "responsibly raised" just disappear? That whole thing just seems a little off...

To me, it's a matter of "tricky" press releases. You've always got to read the fine print with them.

For instance, I read the Forward Together site when it came out and totally comprehended their fundraising method. About 2/3 of the money is coming from FOUR YEAR PSL's. Basically once people signed up for one year worth of season tickets to football and/or basketball, they had to "pledge" the 4 years of the PSL or they risked losing their seats every year, and OM basically counted that as "money in hand" in their press releases despite only being 25% true. In reality, it was ALWAYS going to take AT LEAST FOUR YEARS to collect all the money, since no one is actually paying for their seats 4 years in advance.

Now that they've got a good idea how they are going to do with the PSL's year-to-year, they can go ahead and borrow money to get the process started, and ideally pay it off via those PSLs in the future -- even if they have to extend them a year to make it happen...

[messageboardsuperhero]

And if I'm not mistaken their baseball field is owned by the city of Oxford. Ours is owned by MSU. Which is a good thing- less red tape.

I didn't realize that they had so many things leased out.

The baseball stadium is owned by the city of Oxford, hence the name "Oxford-University Stadium": http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swayze_Field

"The actual stadium sits on city property off-campus and was built by the City of Oxford, using cigarette and hotel taxes to pay for it."